Rants on Cycling and on Life:
Photos of people and bicycles that pass in front of my camera

8.30.2006

last night's ride... tonight's ride

last night I went out for a post work ride on the cross bikewas feeling beaten after sunday's raceit was not so much the heatno it was not the humidity eitherit was my egomy ego was sore

so... last night after workI went out on the my still fresh, yet nearly a year old, Specialized Tri-Cross cyclocross biketook to the Capitol Crescent trail thinking it would be a pleasure to spin car free for a bitwent out for about 45 minutes out turning it around at the end of the gravel path before the path crosses Connetticut Ave. then passing the Chevy Chase City Bikes storeturned it around heading back the way I just camelooking forward to seeing some of the people I saw on the way outyou knowthat joggerthat lady with the dogthat joker on the bike

the bike was heavy under my bodyI slogged it out on a ride I usually cruiseit was flat but it felt up hill both waysit was not so much the speed as I was spinning in the smaller ring trying to stay smooth and not tightit was more a matter of how hard it was to rotate the cranksthe cranks were not spinningthe cranks were being mashed... not unlike how I muscle the cranks when I ride off road

the post work ride was not the confidence builder I was looking forI wanted an refreshing spin to boost my moralrather I had a ball busting rude awakeningan overwelming sensation of dreadmy legs were gone and I was not going to be able to ride this weekend without a testosterone patch

went home joined the familywent through the evening's events thinking that the shenadoah mountain one hundred was a bad idea

the next morning I wokethat was this morningfigured I would get another feel for how the body feltnot the 5-7 hour ride that frank of bike utopia was reccomendingbut rather my ride to work and my ride home

with lycra tights rather than padded shorts with pockets and suchwith Sidi shoes instead of my sasquach sneaker style touring shoes(also with Time cleats)I carried my bike up the wooded stairs to the alley behind my houseafter opening the iron gate I went to pick up my bike and go through the doorwayat a glance I saw then when my wheel rotated it stopped without making a full rotationI tried to spin the wheel againthe wheel did not make a full rotationfearing being late I mounted up my bike with the tweeked rear wheel and rushed to work

after work I got suited up for my ridebefore mounting up on my specialized tri-cross I disconnected the rear brakethen threw my leg over the saddle and headed for a post work ridethe wheel was uglybut it was not hitting the brakeI cautiously moved through traffic knowing a panic stop would send me over the handlebars

not having a legit spoke wrench I figured it best to just rideso I rode on

I went up the Capitol Crescent trail againthis time with less resistencecrossing the once train tressel over Bradley Blvd I decided to pop into Big Wheel Bikes to see if I could borrow their trueing stand and a spoke wrenchsure enoughthey let me into the back of the shopnot even having to use my "I worked here a hunderd years ago line"

in seconds I found that several spokes had loosened entirely out of tensionit was like a few spokes had been replaced by well cooked spaghetti

with the wheel straight again I made small talk with some of the employeesa long time Big Wheel employee VJ popped up in front of the registerwe caught up... I have known VJ for.... well.... foreverVJ has been in and out of Big Wheel since he was a young russian immigrantalthough always part time it seems like he is always there

said my good byes and pointed back to georgetowntrying to get back to the familytrying to beat the fraile threat of rainnodid not extent to the gravel sectionjust headed homewith the wheel straight and strong (for now) I was movingthe bike was fastI was smilingthere was no more resistence that there should be

I laughed to myself about my slogging on the bike the night priorthen smiled about the weekend to comethe slight rain did not dampen my moodI rode home smiling thinging about a weekend of camping and riding my bike

5 comments:

Glad to hear it's just the wheel and not you. I had a coach once who set up the bikes so the brakes rubbed all of the time on certan training rides...mountain rides....it was torture, but when there was no drag we were climbing ferociously. It worked. I still think you need 1 long ride just to see what happens with your body, it's never a bad idea to test the waters, but yeah, time is precious.

too late to see how prepared you are with a long ride- you'll find out sunday!

as for feeling out if it before a big event- I think it's natural to become hyper-sensitive to any possible fatigue, injury, or illness.

Also- warming up before our rowing erg (rowing machine) tests, it would often feel impossible for even a few strokes to pull the split times you had set for yourself. yet as soon as you start the actual test it fells suprisingly easy and you had to reign it in to prevent "flying and dying". at the actual SM100 race you'll be pumped and motivated. you'll feel a lot better when you are actually racing.

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